Miller & Chevalier and six Latin American partner firms, surveyed executives who do business in Latin America, to weigh in on whether corruption is a substantial obstacle. Approximately half the executives returned with a resounding “Yes.” Bolivia and Venezuela were identified as the most corrupt.

The most corrupt institutions include the Mexican and Brazilian police, and the Argentine executive branch. “Corruption continues to be a widespread and costly problem for businesses in the region,” the firm told FinancialWeek.

The survey of 201 executives focused on companies in Brazil, Argentina, and Columbia. The companies are in energy, oil, mining, agriculture, telecommunications, financial services, and other industries.

Fifty-nine percent of executives surveyed said they lost contracts to competitors who made illicit payments. Only nine percent reported these activities to authorities.

“Survey responses reflect both a high level of concern in the private sector about corruption and a cynicism about meaningful enforcement of the anti-corruption laws,” said Homer Moyer, a partner with Miller & Chevalier to FW.

Anti-corruption laws are believed to do little to curb wrongdoing. About 77 percent of executives said their companies have tried to protect against corruption risk by instituting anti-corruption policies and procedures.

The survey results are going to be sent to the Department of Justice, which has taken a harder stance against corruption and increased enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

There has been much attention on the corruption situations in China, Nigeria, and other Asian and African countries; however, Latin America had not yet been highlighted.

Last month, Albert Stanley, who rand KBR when it was a Halliburton unit, pleaded guilty to using bribes, kickbacks, and corruption to secure oil deals in Nigeria, according to FW. Bribes reaching $182 million were paid by Halliburton and an international consortium of engineering companies from France, Italy,

The review of Compensation Discussion and Analysis (CD&A) reports of Fortune 500 companies by Equilar found an increase in the prevalence of companies that considered accumulated wealth when determining executive pay levels from 8.4 percent in 2006 to 14.5 percent in 2007.

For key board leadership positions, Equilar found that median total board-level compensation for non-executive chairs at Fortune 500 companies increased from $258,500 in 2006 to $264,000 in 2007.

Other findings:

• For lead directors, median total compensation increased from $174,843 to $189,413 over the same period. 
• The prevalence of Fortune 500 companies with independent board leadership positions grew from 78.4 percent to 80.9 percent.
• In 2007, 71.7 percent of non-executive chairs and 45.8 percent of lead directors at Fortune 500 companies received a pay premium over regular board members not holding a leadership role.

Companies that consider accumulated wealth in the study included Halliburton, ManPower, Big Lots, Rockwell Automation, Dillards, and Aetna.

Halliburton’s bid outdid an agreed $2.5 billion bid from a private-equity firm-led consortium.

Expro emphasized that the $21.97-a-share proposal was not finalized. Expro said in a statement, “A further announcement will be made in due course.”

Oil companies are increasing activities as soaring energy prices and increasing demand are fueling further acquisition pursuits. Analysts believe that the rising costs of raw materials and drilling rig rentals, coupled with a shortage of skilled labor, have resulted in the swift rise in oil prices.

In April, Expro received a $22.55-a-share offer from Umbrellastream, a consortium led by U.K. private-equity firm Candover Partners Ltd. together with Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and Alpinvest Partners N.V.